If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You will have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

I suggested before, that rather than supplanting the characters from their modern setting, or simply having a nominal generic fantasy setting and calling it D&D -- the two worlds exists side-by-side, each seen as a dream world to the other. Characters who's basic persona is reborn each night as a symbol of their idealized form of power -- a ranger, fighter, mage, rogue, cleric and so on -- who undertake quests and combat problems which have an underlying subtext derived from events in the "real world". Their fantasy counterparts are not, however, from the 21st century.

I really like this idea; the idea that they're not permanently stuck in the D&D world, but merely "dream" it each night. It's been done before: .HACK, Accel World, Sword Art Online....
I like the idea because with this angle, conflicts between characters in the "game world" carry over into the real world. Teenagers who are real-life friends or at least classmates can become opposing sides in the game world. I don't want over-the-top shonen rivalries, though. I want realistic reasons why kids can become enemies in another world. Off the top of my head:
(1) "Dude, lighten up. Who cares what happens to them? It's only a game/dream/not-Earth!"
(2) The flip side where a kid with an intense worldview (Anonymous, for example) finally finds an outlet in the D&D world, and as a result comes into conflict with his classmates who have more conventional moral scales.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Originally Posted by MLai

I really like this idea; the idea that they're not permanently stuck in the D&D world, but merely "dream" it each night. It's been done before: .HACK, Accel World, Sword Art Online....
I like the idea because with this angle, conflicts between characters in the "game world" carry over into the real world. Teenagers who are real-life friends or at least classmates can become opposing sides in the game world. I don't want over-the-top shonen rivalries, though. I want realistic reasons why kids can become enemies in another world. Off the top of my head:
(1) "Dude, lighten up. Who cares what happens to them? It's only a game/dream/not-Earth!"
(2) The flip side where a kid with an intense worldview (Anonymous, for example) finally finds an outlet in the D&D world, and as a result comes into conflict with his classmates who have more conventional moral scales.

The issue I with that is D&D isn't an MMO -- what distinguishes D&D is that you became a dramatis personae for the time you're role playing -- not merely You the Fighter or You the Wizard, but the person behind those skills who has a personal reason to face danger and death. That character is still you, a part of you went into it and you become the animating force behind it, but it's not You.

My idea would give the Ranger a real life of his/her own, his own memories and place in his/her setting. To him/her, the dreams of our modern Earth are vague and wondrous in their own right. He/She is a different person there, surrounded by things not imagined in their world. Of course, from the perspective of the Earth-self, it's much the same. Both selves share the same disbelief in each other's reality, but thoughts, images, and emotions bleed through. Eventually our cast of characters would realize they're having the same reoccurring dreams in this fantasy world/real world, which would be troubling or reassuring depending on your viewpoint. As the story progresses they and their parallel selves become more akin to one another, less able to discern between their lives and the lives of their doppelganger. Eventually finding some entity like the Dungeon Master pulling strings behind everything for some grand cosmic reason.

At least that's what I had in mind. There are a lot of ways this can be done without falling perilously into cliche, while still capturing the spirit of D&D that keeps attracting people to it even in the age of video and computer games, I think. You simply need subtlety and some imagination.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Originally Posted by Kitten Champion

The issue I with that is D&D isn't an MMO -- what distinguishes D&D is that you became a dramatis personae for the time you're role playing -- not merely You the Fighter or You the Wizard, but the person behind those skills who has a personal reason to face danger and death. That character is still you, a part of you went into it and you become the animating force behind it, but it's not You.

My idea would give the Ranger a real life of his/her own, his own memories and place in his/her setting. To him/her, the dreams of our modern Earth are vague and wondrous in their own right. He/She is a different person there, surrounded by things not imagined in their world. Of course, from the perspective of the Earth-self, it's much the same. Both selves share the same disbelief in each other's reality, but thoughts, images, and emotions bleed through. Eventually our cast of characters would realize they're having the same reoccurring dreams in this fantasy world/real world, which would be troubling or reassuring depending on your viewpoint. As the story progresses they and their parallel selves become more akin to one another, less able to discern between their lives and the lives of their doppelganger. Eventually finding some entity like the Dungeon Master pulling strings behind everything for some grand cosmic reason.

At least that's what I had in mind. There are a lot of ways this can be done without falling perilously into cliche, while still capturing the spirit of D&D that keeps attracting people to it even in the age of video and computer games, I think. You simply need subtlety and some imagination.

This would be 1) really hard to pull off well (mostly because of the difficulty of conveying it to the audience - it would be easier to do in a book than in a show) and 2) freakin' awesome. I had a similar idea based around this concept with a single person a while ago when I was just brainstorming story concepts.

A new Hero on a new quest.Villains both old and new. Allies and Enemies of all kinds.

A dual-wielding Hero with an idealistic heart. An ancient, magical, sentient sword with a sarcastic and snide sense of humor whose spirit takes the form of a girl. A conflicted mercenary with split loyalties. A former assassin with the powers of a Sage. It is a new tale of destiny in the land of Hyrule. The Legend of Zelda: Sword of Souls! (my fanfic)

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Originally Posted by Calemyr

Just because I'm a little bored at the moment, I wrote up some characters that could serve as the PoV cast:

Spoiler

Show

Sam (Short for Samantha): Fighter. An avid athlete and a bit of a tomboy, Sam enjoys physical solutions to problems. She's not stupid, mind you - in fact she displays quite a bit of intelligence in how she fight - but she prefers to play to her strength, and that is, well, her strength. She tends to act on impulse more than the others and does not back down even when outclassed. Probably the happiest to be in the game, because there she can be who she wants to be rather than what everyone expects her to be.

Lisa: Sorceress. A shy, gentle soul with a surplus of empathy, Lisa feels there must have been some sort of mistake in attaining her class. Instead of becoming something passive or supportive, like a cleric or a druid or even a ranger, the powers she realizes are aggressive and destructive and drawn from passion and raw bloody-minded will. What disturbs her even more is how good she is at it - she is a fearsome force of nature when riled and often horrified by the aftermath of her own wrath. She's the one who wants to leave the most and will jump at any chance to do so, not so much because she's scared of danger, but because she's terrified that this might be who she truly is.

Curtis: Rogue. How best to describe Curtis? He never does things the normal way. Probably the most intellectual of the four, Curtis never attacks things head on, always trying to out-maneuver obstacles and achieve the most impact while using the least effort. Curtis is very non-confrontational, preferring people to never even know he's there, and can be particularly timid in a straight up fight, but if allowed to do things his way he is quite reliable - albeit unpredictable. Curtis doesn't dislike being in the game, but does worry how his mother is faring without him around.

RJ: Bard. RJ has not had an easy life. Raised in a particularly dysfunctional family in an unpleasant corner of town, he skates through his days on well-honed people skills to keep himself out of trouble at home, in school, and especially in the neighborhood. A born actor, he slips between roles fluidly to fit in with whatever crowd he falls into and can play people like a harp. What few people realize is that RJ has a gift for tactical thought and enjoys games like chess, though he hides this to protect his image. RJ dreams of being something more than he is, but doesn't really believe it to be possible. Of the four, RJ displays the least opinion of being in the game, as he has a fatalistic belief that he'll never be able to escape his old life for long.

I don't know. Would that be an interesting lead cast?

I love this idea, but then again I'm a big fan of (well done) fish out of water plots. I also like Kitten Champion's idea for the Moorcock-esque dreams of the other self. I like the 'multiple characters as one person' thing in his stories.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

I'd personally love something set in Eberron, or at least a new setting that draws heavily from Eberron. I'd also like the look of the series to be hand-drawn, kinda like the pretty good ThunderCats reboot that ended this year.

As for the tone, I'd like it to be kind of like IDW's Dungeons and Dragons ongoing - lots of action, a good plot, and more than a bit of snarky humor. Of course, the resident caster would dress a bit more modestly than Tisha, which I'd actually like - someone as squishy as a wizard dressing in anything that exposes the collarbone or anything below it is basically saying "LOOK AT ME! I'M A WALKING PINCUSHION FOR ARROWS!"

Since Hasbro'd be involved with producing it, I'd expect to see it on the Hub and to be rated TV-PG-V at the most. I wouldn't object to a TV-PG rating - Cartoon Network's PG-rated action shows are usually pretty good these days, and it'd be nice to see a D&D series that isn't trying as hard to be mature as it usually is these days. Just... No baby unicorns, please. And maybe use characters that aren't from "our world" - the D&D cartoon is probably one of the better 80's toons out there, since there was more continuity and it dealt with heavier themes, but I'd rather see "natives" to the setting as protagonists so we could have multiple races - I would love to see a D&D cartoon with an elf and a dwarf trading insults like Dinobot and Rattrap did in Beast Wars. If a new series could do that with writing and animation quality on par with, say, Young Justice, Avatar (both series, even though Korra had problems with the romance subplots) or Clone Wars, I'd watch it religiously :D

@DR. Epic: Well, a more action/adventure D&D cartoon would be nice. Adventure Time's one of my favorite cartoons, but I really want to see another fantasy cartoon on the air since ThunderCats went belly-up.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Originally Posted by Calemyr

Just because I'm a little bored at the moment, I wrote up some characters that could serve as the PoV cast:

Spoiler

Show

Sam (Short for Samantha): Fighter. An avid athlete and a bit of a tomboy, Sam enjoys physical solutions to problems. She's not stupid, mind you - in fact she displays quite a bit of intelligence in how she fight - but she prefers to play to her strength, and that is, well, her strength. She tends to act on impulse more than the others and does not back down even when outclassed. Probably the happiest to be in the game, because there she can be who she wants to be rather than what everyone expects her to be.

Lisa: Sorceress. A shy, gentle soul with a surplus of empathy, Lisa feels there must have been some sort of mistake in attaining her class. Instead of becoming something passive or supportive, like a cleric or a druid or even a ranger, the powers she realizes are aggressive and destructive and drawn from passion and raw bloody-minded will. What disturbs her even more is how good she is at it - she is a fearsome force of nature when riled and often horrified by the aftermath of her own wrath. She's the one who wants to leave the most and will jump at any chance to do so, not so much because she's scared of danger, but because she's terrified that this might be who she truly is.

Curtis: Rogue. How best to describe Curtis? He never does things the normal way. Probably the most intellectual of the four, Curtis never attacks things head on, always trying to out-manuever obstacles and achieve the most impact while using the least effort. Curtis is very non-confrontational, preferring people to never even know he's there, and can be particularly timid in a straight up fight, but if allowed to do things his way he is quite reliable - albeit unpredictable. Curtis doesn't dislike being in the game, but does worry how his mother is faring without him around.

RJ: Bard. RJ has not had an easy life. Raised in a particularly dysfunctional family in an unpleasant corner of town, he skates through his days on well-honed people skills to keep himself out of trouble at home, in school, and especially in the neighborhood. A born actor, he slips between roles fluidly to fit in with whatever crowd he falls into and can play people like a harp. What few people realise is that RJ has a gift for tactical thought and enjoys games like chess, though he hides this to protect his image. RJ dreams of being something more than he is, but doesn't really believe it to be possible. Of the four, RJ displays the least opinion of being in the game, as he has a fatalistic belief that he'll never be able to escape his old life for long.

I don't know. Would that be an interesting lead cast?

I want this cast. I can already see having a field day with them, particularly in a setting were there getting to jump from setting to setting and plane of existence to plane of existence.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Originally Posted by MLai

You know there would be a baby unicorn. There's no preventing it.
And you know you'd like it, too.

If they bothered to remember that unicorns are sentient creatures capable of speech and healing magic (which would actually be quite useful), I don't see why they couldn't have a young one as a character.

A character, with her proper name, not a glorifed pet.

(One that, given how fast horses develop, could "grow up" as the characters "levelled up" and keep parity, and then multiclass into, I dunno, Paladin or Druid or something.)

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Originally Posted by Aotrs Commander

If they bothered to remember that
(One that, given how fast horses develop, could "grow up" as the characters "levelled up" and keep parity, and then multiclass into, I dunno, Paladin or Druid or something.)

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Originally Posted by MLai

Or Princess!

I suddenly love the idea of a unicorn character who is a multy class Paladin/Druid/Some-manner of Gish/Thurgue of the two that's a new 5e thing hanging with the group described in the last post I quoted, only to have them discover later down the road (Pun NOT intended.), that she's her people's princess!

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Originally Posted by Metahuman1

I suddenly love the idea of a unicorn character who is a multy class Paladin/Druid/Some-manner of Gish/Thurgue of the two that's a new 5e thing hanging with the group described in the last post I quoted, only to have them discover later down the road (Pun NOT intended.), that she's her people's princess!

I was - for once - not even thinking of MLP! I was thinking more along the lines of something in my own campaign world, that I did well before MLP showed on the horizon, where I've chucked the 3.5 bestiary out of the window and re-imagined stuff from mythological sources; there, unicorns were a step up even from D&D unicorns, being basically Shire-horse-shaped paladins with a +3 magic longsword duct taped to thier skulls...! (About as opposite from "little" unicorn ponies as you could get!)

One of the PCs in one of the parties I run is one of those unicorns (a dragon shaman, as it happens), with a ring of jumping. When she uses leap attack, with her jump skill (all those movement-related bonuses), she makes like, 50-60' or something daft and the enemy tends to not so much die, as splash...!

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

I'll probably write up something like Calemyr did. I'm using my four favorite created characters, and I'll also expand on the world they live in.

Characters:

Spoiler

Show

Locke: Locke is a Human Fighter (Warblade in 3.5, but whatever) hailing from the Western Colonies. A young man of about twenty-three with strong convictions and a strong spirit, he's surprisingly smart for someone who magic-using foes like to belittle as a "puny-minded warrior." His main flaw is that he's a bit of a hot shot - while he's hardly stupid, he tends to get the party into new quests by accepting quests that no sane adventurer would accept. He looks visibly Native American - not stereotypically so, but he has notably tanner skin than most humans he encounters. Armed with a greatsword, he fights on to protect those weaker than him. You could sum up his personality with the statement "Sometimes, crazy works."

Kaya: Kaya is a Shifter Rogue (resembling this sketch of a Shifter by Jrinaldi, which also sums up the style I'd like to see used - not realistic, but not very cartoony, either). Unlike most Rogues, she prefers the adrenaline rush from evading traps and sneaking by enemies over the material gains. She's hot-headed and clever, but naturally suspicious of others - she can be brutally honest. About twenty-three years of age, she and Locke are childhood friends. She normally uses a pair of wheellock pistols, and keeps a few bombs on her person at all times. She has a love for technology, in fact. She's also the most genre-savvy of the party.

Scops: Scops is a rather nervous Raptoran Ranger - A former bounty hunter, Scops constantly found himself never quite getting his bounty. He tends to be a bit pessimistic and argumentative, but is by far the cleverest of the adventuring party when it comes to magic. He's often said that he wishes he was a Skypledged, but unfortunately, he was exiled from his rookery after spectacularly failing the Walk of the Four Winds. He's also afraid of heights - maybe he actually is cursed. He uses a footbow that can also double as a standard longbow in closed spaces.

Ferrus Pax is a large, ancient Warforged Monk - as a matter of fact, he's about the size of the average Goliath. A sturdy, powerful warrior, he's physically built like a tank, and while he moves far slower than other Monks, he makes up for it in defenses and power. After an orphaned Kaya awakened him when she was a young girl, he took her in as his adopted daughter. He's constantly trying to adjust to the world after his centuries-long hibernation, and while smart, stoic and wise, he tends to be easily flustered due to a combination of culture shock and his "daughter's" reckless, thrill-seeking attitude. He would much rather live a peaceful, monastic lifestyle like he did before the hibernation, but unfortunately, he's had no such luck.

The world they live in cribs liberally from the most iconic aspects of other settings - mostly Eberron, particularly when it comes to tech. The main Big Bads of the setting are the Church of Varus (an all-human church that persecutes non-humans), a version of the Lord of Blades (a renegade Warforged who leads a cult of personality centered on subjugating squishies - a far cry from the peaceful, monastic lifestyle most Warforged chose to live), the various Demon Lords, and the Drow. The tone of the show would be similar to the Thundercats reboot, albeit without a love triangle and with a lot more snarky humor similar to IDW's D&D comic.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

A D&D cartoon, if done RIGHTGDIT, could be very amazing. To my way of thinking the unquestionable ideal venue would be Planechase with frequent visits to other camp settings, heavy on Eberron and Greyhawk with fewer visits to settings like FR and DL (the former because it's too expansive and the latter not enough so). Spelljammer is a bit too corny for audiences to accept, I think (but then I was certain they'd never pull off a Thor movie so who knows), but picking only one setting would be a tragic waste of the immensity of the canon.

Mind flayers. I want GD mind flayers for the main villains. Pretty much impossible to improve on, though ideally others would be used as well. Some of the best storylines like Temple of Elemental Evil could use a nod as well, but it'd be neat if the story didn't follow these well-known plots so much as cross paths with them, giving the impression of huge machinations going on which the players only touch upon.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Regarding the series concept, the biggest advantage is that it allowed an easy way to introduce a new world.
If non of the characters came from this world, the world building is easier, and the viewers learn about the world along with the characters.
(This was kind of wasted on the old show, that didn't have much of a world building anyway)

However, this isn't required, and there are better way to introduce a world by adventuring in it and slowly bringing more and more elements on the surface.
"One Piece" is an example of how to do that well, but it certainly isn't the only one.

The biggest problem I had with the old series, is that the adventures felt forced and unnecessary.
The group didn't go for adventures because they were needed or felt it was the right thing to do, it was more because some wacky DM told them to do so.
That kind of cheapens what they did every episode.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

To keep the feel of it being actually something from DnD intact, I do agree it'd have to have an "Earth people in a different world" set-up. It may be harder to do right, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. (For instance, if it's set up like people actually playing the game and switching between worlds and showing real-world stuff as well, that'd give you a whole extra dimension. One player could be in it to cope with his depression, another to make friends and not actually be interested in the game at first, there could be the divide between the roleplayer and the powergamer, who later come to see they're not so different after all, for you Stormwind Fallacy lovers out there.)

Furthermore, that might actually make it more interesting to people who don't play DnD, as you have to take into account the people who aren't the direct target demographic. It's also much more likely to be watched by kids, so throwing in certain things like language barriers is a bad idea (at least right from the start, I do think that the main characters running into it later would be a nifty idea and embroil them into the setting further). Making the characters come from locations in the world that the people most likely to be watching them is also the most logical, but this doesn't mean they couldn't have connections to other parts of the world. For instance, if you have an Asian in the group, perhaps he only moved recently from Malaysia and got into the group to make friends, not knowing anything about the game. Such a thing would be easiest if the characters either work at an international company or all go to some university with a high level of foreign students.

Originally Posted by Aotrs Commander

Edit: In fact, it occurs that the other advantage is, if you set it up right, the Earth people would not need to have the desire to return home to their families (the Romans come from Pompeii - perhaps the eruption was caused BY the BBEG in his attempt to conquer a new world, or from the fall of the First Empire in Egypt or something), and the story can be about something other than their attempts to get home. Which a) has already been done, b) runs the risk of giving you either an Endless Quest (dull) or a strict cap on the length when the goal is achieved (with potential dubious undoing of the end when it's decided to do One More Season/the Movie.) It'd give you a more open-ended myth arc, because it wouldn't have to end with "beat BBEG."

If going with the "Earth people in a strange world" approach without them actually playing the game or such, this could also easily be done in the modern day. Maybe one of the characters lost her father to gun violence after her mother left or something and doesn't want to return to a world where she is alone. Stuff like that.

Current Projects:EMPIRE! -- A Community World-Building Game full of role-playing and strategy

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Expanding on my idea, I want to see a cast of 4-6 characters (as the main party, there can be a huge ensemble of recurring allies, foils, anti-hero rivals and anti-villian enemies). Exactly 2 members of this group should be Genre-Savvy...a snarky CN or TN roguish Bard type who knows aaaaall about Stories and adventures because he knows it's an effective way to gain lewt and power, and an NG or CG Cleric of Kord who considers the Hero's Journey and its variants a sacrament, so she intentionally lives her entire life as an adventure and willingly accepts the danger involved so that she can set a good example for others. (She'd also be the kind to adventure in "breastplate" armor, complete with the quotation marks, because she knows her god is a lusty man-god and she wants to give him a good show; this is of course being very meta toward the predominantly male audience, while one of the other characters can subvert or oppose this trend).

For other members of the group I'm thinking of a very methodical and punctilious LN wizard and a token angsty character in the form of a Necropolitan fighter or warblade or something, who knows he's not as tough as the cleric but insists on being the meatshield anyway because he enjoys getting hurt as a form of penance for the same "sins" that made him seek out Crucimigration. If 4 characters isn't plenty, we could add a played-straight Paladin and a Ranger/Barbarian/Druid/Totemist/etc. but these rather narrow roles might be better devoted to recurring guest stars.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

I would love it to be high/classic fantasy.. probably forgotten realms..
and I would love for it to be adult oriented..by which I don't mean full of boobies..but something aimed at entertaining adults, not just 6-10 year-olds.
because I'm an adult.
more characters than just the token party..more villains than just the badass one with the cackling laugh.. something with a bit more body to it than your average episode-based cartoon.

also, I would have the people from Avatar (the cartoon) make it..to see if they can pull it off.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

One of the things that reminds me of this is that you can't take alignments for granted.

By that I picture a Paladin who adventures alongside an evil sorceress due to them, being friends and able to work out their differences since they know they can rely on the other.

Keep picturing the actress playing River Song as the sorceress and either Chyna or say someone athletic to play the other role and keep it firmly tongue in cheek perhaps get Bruce Campbell involved and have episodes where you see them adventuring where they get round their more lawful colleague by mixing outright theft with fighting evil just avoiding the really evil stuff where necessary.

I guess the Emerald Claw would be the usual enemy of the week, the paladin is the daughter whose father was supposedly killed by the Claw and she ended up as a mercenary knight who befriended say a human sorceress with a grudge against Kalashtar...

Can't help picturing them storming an Emerald Claw camp freeing captives whilst the sorceress loots the place ended up running from a Minotaur forcing her Paladin to intervene who gets the Minotaur to surrender rather than killing him outright so she can interrogate him...
This leads to their next objective however they have new recruits some of whom are enemy spies and others have no intention of endangering themselves but are willing to sell the others out...

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Something set in Planescape could be ridiculously mega awesome. It would also be an excellent setting if you did want the 'modern teenagers get sucked from Earth into fantasy world' thing; then it could revolve around the characters trying to find the right portal back home (from Sigil). Alternatively, the characters could be youngsters drawn from a typical, medieval fantasy earth (like Toril), and you could have the same sort of dynamic but with cooler characters (who could also be of traditional fantastic races like elves and such).

I'm picturing something a little Men in Black-ish, with the clueless main character(s) winding up in a world that seems relatively normal at first glance, but then starts to pervert the character's expectations at every turn; i.e. clueless Joe is walking down the street and asks a robed figure where he is, and when he sees the figure's face there's a 'what-the-Shar-is-that!' (a dabus or something) moment.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

I'd much rather have a feature animated film about The Year of Rogue Dragons than a new D&D cartoon.
The D&D cartoon was pretty good, but I don't think it should be redone. They should focus on settings (an Eberron cartoon could be very good and I don't understand how we don't have a Drizzt series already).
I loved the D&D cartoon (and yes, Sheila was an illusionist in Brazil) but it's ran it's course. They should try new ideas.

TL;DR Adapt The Year of Rogue Dragons, Drizzt or Eberron into a cartoon series

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Originally Posted by Scarlet-Devil

Something set in Planescape could be ridiculously mega awesome. It would also be an excellent setting if you did want the 'modern teenagers get sucked from Earth into fantasy world' thing; then it could revolve around the characters trying to find the right portal back home (from Sigil).

This. Though I would rather the characters were 20somethings rather than teenagers. Unless the show was going to be a gritty Broken Aesop where the teenagers adventure in D&D world when they should be going through high school or early college, then they come back to Earth only to find that they've missed their formative years, have no credentials, and are stuck with dead-end careers, social maladjustment, and generally not having a future, so they end up going back to Planescape because it's the only world where they have a chance of surviving anymore. (Whereas if the characters are 20somethings, you can skip that first part and the whole thing is much more hopeful, because instead of their loserishness being their own damn fault, it's just the fact that they washed out of society the same way real people do all the time, and so finding a portal elsewhere becomes lucky instead of kinda pathetic.)

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

Originally Posted by Scarlet-Devil

Something set in Planescape could be ridiculously mega awesome. It would also be an excellent setting if you did want the 'modern teenagers get sucked from Earth into fantasy world' thing; then it could revolve around the characters trying to find the right portal back home (from Sigil). Alternatively, the characters could be youngsters drawn from a typical, medieval fantasy earth (like Toril), and you could have the same sort of dynamic but with cooler characters (who could also be of traditional fantastic races like elves and such).

I'm picturing something a little Men in Black-ish, with the clueless main character(s) winding up in a world that seems relatively normal at first glance, but then starts to pervert the character's expectations at every turn; i.e. clueless Joe is walking down the street and asks a robed figure where he is, and when he sees the figure's face there's a 'what-the-Shar-is-that!' (a dabus or something) moment.

I like this. Another! (Seriously though, this is one of my favorite ideas so far.)

Originally Posted by historiasdeosos

If they ever make a new D&D cartoon, Drizzt needs to stay as far away from it as possible.

Re: What would you expect in a new dnd cartoon?

One thing about having people who are PCs and technically separate individuals who have different experiences is that it was done in The Guardians of the Flame series by Joel Rosenberg very very well. The main characters for the first half of the series are from a world near analogous to our own who are playing a D&D like game and transferred to the world of the game by a GM who is using them as pawns in his own machinations within that world (an ancient merlin-like wizard who was banished from the world in a magical battle) with no way to easily return (there is technically a bridge between the two worlds but it is guarded by a dragon of extreme strength). The first book deals with the dichotomy between the person they are and the person they were with most of them choosing to only draw upon the character's skills rather than immersing themselves in the character (one person experiences a crisis of personalities and dies trying to rob another person in the first book, another pretty much sheds his old life in favor of the character he is now.)

Exploring this kind of dichotomy would be interesting and certainly provide some level of drama since we have people using powers and drawing upon experiences they have never had, or at least experiences they don't accept as "real"